The Faculty of Biology UGM organized a Joint Harvest Event for Sleman Super Longan (KSS) on Thursday (28/1) at Dukuh Gejayan, Condongcatur, Depok, Sleman. This joint harvest event marked the closing of a series of activities for the Mandating Research Program toward Mitigation and Handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic organized since July 2020.
The program launched by the UGM Faculty of Biology aims to help families during the Covid-19 pandemic by making use of the small yard land for cultivation. The results are not only longans but also catfish farming, Liquid Organic Fertilizer (POC), and milk pumpkin cultivation. Some programs were mostly applied in Gejayan Hamlet, except for the milk pumpkin cultivated in Madurejo, Prambanan, and Sleman.
“At the end of last new year, the catfish, which the Women Farmer Group of Gejayan Hamlet had cultivated, was harvested. Meanwhile, processing waste into POC is a mandate from the university, and it was also completed at the end of last year. Furthermore, the development in the Prambanan area is still currently going,” said Prof. Budi S. Daryono as the Dean of the UGM Faculty of Biology UGM as well as the Head of the Program Team in his speech.
Budi also added that KKS had been developed since 2015. UGM Faculty of Biology had carried out the KSS cultivation in various regions in Yogyakarta, such as Gunungkidul and Kulonprogo, including Gejayan Hamlet. As such, this was not the first harvesting.
Although this mandating program was over, Budi stated that he was still enthusiastic about guiding the residents. For example, even though catfish have been harvested, he still helped sow new seeds last new year, and now they are about one month old.
“To show appreciation for being accepted at Gejayan Hamlet, we hand over the pumpkin milk and golden watermelon seeds as a token of gratitude. If you have any difficulty cultivating it, do not hesitate to contact us, we are very pleased to guide it later. Additionally, if there is a new land to plant, please invite us to work cooperatively. Who knows that Gejayan Hamlet one day can become an agritourism destination,” he explained.
Reno Candra Sangaji, as the Head of Condongcatur Village, kindly welcomed this support. He said that nowadays, it was hard to find people who are genuinely willing to make use of the land. Nevertheless, according to him, with the UGM Faculty of Biology team’s guidance, they would successfully actualize it until the harvest season.
“On behalf of the residents, I would like to thank the UGM Faculty of Biology. This cooperation is an example of positive collaborative creation. Therefore, I hope that a program like this can continue in the future and if possible, be strengthened, increasing the prosperity in Condongcatur in general, and Padukuhan Gejayan in particular,” he concluded.
